Lost fans, bloggers divide on 'Sundown'

It's been a while since we've seen Lost fans so sharply disagreeing about an episode as they've been doing this week, over the Sayid-centric "Sundown."

Some critics, bloggers and commenters clearly loved the episode's bad-ass action sequences and its dark, ominous depiction of Sayid turning to the Dark Side of the Force. Some didn't like this one so much -- although not the way they hated, let's say, "Stranger in a Strange Land," aka The One About Jack's Tattoos, guest-starring the simply awful Bai Ling. Nor was the ep reviled as much as "Exposé," aka The One With Nikki and Paulo.

Here's a roundup of "Sundown" recaps, with a range of views that are pro, con, and somewhere in between:

EW.com's Doc Jensen

WashPost's Lost Central

Zap2Lost and Zap2Lost Course Corrections

Slate's TV Club

ChiTrib's The Watcher

The AV Club

NYT's Lost Watch

Lost...and Gone Forever

LOST: episode 6-06, 'Sundown'

Tonight's Lost episode, "Sundown," is summarized by ABC: "Sayid is faced with a difficult decision, and Claire sends a warning to the temple inhabitants." Which seems to indicate it will be Sayid-centric. Which mean Episode 6 breaks the S6 pattern of mirroring Season 1, and it won't be a Sun/Jin-centric episode, as expected. Which, considering the title is "Sundown," is kind of a big tease.

We can probably expect to see more of the Temple and its inhabitants, along with whichever Losties are still there. But with Kate, James, Jack, Hugo, and Jin gone, that just leaves Miles and Sayid. Sun, Frank, Ilana and Ben were heading to the Temple, the last we saw of them.

If the episode does focus on Sayid, what will his Sideways World be like? We know he got to LA with every intention of finding Nadia, his long-lost love. Does he find her? Will his alt-life be better, overall, than his Jacob/Island-affected life has been? (It could hardly be worse.)

We'll see. Come back when the show ends and we'll talk about it here, in the comments.